Rapunzel has been one of the most popular fairy tales from most of our childhoods and one of the most remembered parts of this tale is when Rapunzel is called on to let down her hair. The sorceress who has trapped the young, twelve-year-old Rapunzel in the secluded tower originally calls this out so that she can come up into the tower during the daytime. When the prince finds the tower in the middle of the forest and hears Rapunzel's beautiful singing, he is in awe and decides that he must see her. While listening to her singing one day, he is hiding behind a tree and hears Mother Gothel cry out to Rapunzel. After seeing how quickly Rapunzel followed her orders and Mother Gothel climbed into the tower, the prince decided he must try to see who was singing so beautifully. After climbing into the tower in the evening, Rapunzel is startled but finds the young prince handsome and decides to marry him.
In the above cartoon, we can see many humorous Rapunzel motifs. In the Grimm version, Rapunzel immediately lets her hair down for the prince, despite any thoughts about how the voice may be different or anything. When the prince climbs up her hair, Rapunzel indeed notices the weight difference since she mentions it to Mother Gothel later by accident. Although she is startled when the prince climbs into the tower, she accepts him very quickly and agrees to take his hand in marriage. In the cartoon, we can see the prince calling out to Rapunzel, like in the Grimm version. Even though she hears someone, she says "I can't hear you. Try texting me!" I think that this cartoon is funny because it relates so much to the modern world. People are constantly keeping in touch via text messages and that is what makes this so humorous. Many of the fairy tales we enjoy as children could so easily be ruined with the overwhelming use of technology in the modern world. For one, Mother Gothel put Rapunzel in the tower so that she would be secluded and would not have contact with the outside world. This cartoon not only indicates that she has contact with the outside world, but she has had prior interactions with the prince since she has his phone number. I also find it funny that she expects him to hear her telling him to text him, although she could not hear him in the first place. Overall, the story of Rapunzel would not have been as enjoyable and it would have to be a very different story if it included the use of modern day technology.
